by J. L. Berry
Cole pulled out a t-shirt and haphazardly wrapped the cage up in it before placing it deep in the bag. The scent of the cage’s contents was only slightly masked by his efforts and the close proximity was going to hamper both of their perceptions while they held on to it.
“Can we go now?” Elijah asked sarcastically.
Cole smirked at Elijah before turning on his heel and walking away. Elijah rolled his eyes before replacing the backpack over his shoulders and jogging to catch up.
A FEW HOURS LATER AND they reached a small town, the closest to the Raptor’s territory. Cole was elated, it’d been so long since he had seen civilisation. Elijah however, was wary.
Does this seem too easy to you Elijah questioned his wolf.
His wolf only grunted in response, he’d gone quiet since they picked up the cage and Elijah was sure it was having a big impact on him. They abandoned the wolf pelt cleaned off as best they could and changed clothes in an attempt to appear normal before they headed into the town.
“Where are we?” Cole asked.
“This sleepy town is Franklin I believe. There’s a pack an hour north-west of here so I’m hoping there may be locals more familiar with our kind who may be willing to help.”
Cole was grateful for Elijah’s foresight. His shoulder was continuing to worsen and a continuous sheen of sweat occupied his brow. They tried the doctor’s surgery first but without a valid insurance they wouldn’t even look at him. They were careful to not mention it was a bullet wound for fear of being reported but still as they left the reception Elijah had a sense of unease. One of the receptionists had watched them a little too carefully for his preference and as they were leaving she was straight on her phone sending a message. Maybe he was just being paranoid. They must look a state and in a small town where everyone knows everyone they no doubt stood out.
“Let’s move on to another town Cole, or head to the nearest pack you mentioned for help.”
“Are you sure there are no other options here?”
Elijah looked at Cole and could see he was struggling. “We can get you some pain relief at the local store at the very least but I think we need to move on quickly, I’ve got a really bad feeling here but I don’t know why.”
Together they located a small supermarket with a home pharmacy section and purchased some paracetamol and ibuprofen with the little money Elijah had. Thanking the cashier they made their way towards the outskirts of Franklin intending to head north-west to the nearest pack. Out of nowhere Cole stopped dead in his tracks causing Elijah to crash into the back of him.
“What the hell Cole.”
When Cole didn’t respond Elijah’s anxiety sky rocketed and he glanced around searching in vain for the source of Cole’s behaviour. With a sudden surge of speed Cole darted across the thankfully empty road making Elijah curse out loud before following him. They crossed a small car park before entering a veterinary surgery.
“Cole, they’re not going to treat you here,” Elijah hissed trying to reason with him but he still got no response.
“Can I help you?” A kind woman sat behind the reception desk asked.
Cole ignored her after a quick glance as he was single-mindedly focused on something and nothing.
I remember that feeling Elijah’s wolf contributed.
Of course, Elijah rolled his eyes as finally realised what was going on.
A petite woman who looked to be in her early to mid-twenties exited from one of the consulting room doors reading a report in her hands as she headed automatically to the reception desk. Her honey blonde hair was piled high on her head in a messy bun which showcased her high cheekbones and heart shaped face. She was dressed in navy scrubs which complemented her lightly-tanned skin but hid her womanly figure. She wasn’t wearing an ounce of make-up but she didn’t need it. Her eyebrows were perfectly defined and long black lashes framed her turquoise eyes.
“Mine,” Cole stated his voice barely above a whisper as his body trembled.
The woman’s head snapped towards him instantly, shock clear on her face as her intelligent eyes took in their appearance. Her nostrils flared in response to Cole but she kept her face composed in a professional manner.
“Do you know these gentlemen Jess?” The receptionist was clearly unsure about their presence and the lack of reply from them earlier was causing an uncomfortable atmosphere.
“Jess,” Cole repeated her name, revelling in the sound of it coming from his lips as his wolf hummed with pleasure. Her pupils dilated in response to him, making both Cole and Elijah believe the woman was more than what she seemed.
“Yes I went to high school with them but I’m surprised to see you both here,” she replied quick on the uptake.
Definitely a shifter Elijah’s wolf confirmed.
“Hey Jess, yeah sorry for just dropping in like this. We were in the area hiking when Cole here got injured.” Elijah began playing along, “Anyway, since we had to cut our hike short we thought we’d pop in and see how you’re doing before we head back home.”
“Well that’s a very sweet and unexpected surprise,” Jess smiled. “Why don’t you come on back and I can give you a tour, then maybe we can go grab some dinner?”
“Sounds great,” Elijah answered as Cole just continued to stare at Jess his eyes full of longing.
“You can head out Maggie if you like, I don’t mind locking up.”
Maggie the receptionist appeared mollified by the situation and grateful for the chance to head home early so she packed up her things before heading out the front door, locking it behind her.
“Right you two better start explaining why there are two random wolves in the middle of nowhere covered in blood, and what is that god awful smell? It’s giving me a headache,” Jess declared.
“It’s a long story,” Elijah advised.
Jess nodded, “Well you better come out back then.”
They headed through the consulting room and out the other side into the surgical prep area. Various rooms branched off to the sides including an operating theatre, radiology suite and separate dog and cat kennels. The building was quiet now with no other people and no patients. Jess gestured for Cole to take a seat as she began to remove his makeshift bandage to inspect his injury. Cole remained perfectly still, unwilling to admit just how much pain he was really in to his new mate as he watched her work.
As Jess worked Elijah explained about the history of the Raptor pack, how he had escaped and accidentally found Cole’s family before returning to help Cole escape. Elijah saw her eyebrows quirk upwards at certain points during his story but she was quick to school her features back to one of professional.
Like her Elijah’s wolf growled his approval at Cole’s choice in mate.
“Okay so that explains why you both look such a state and this injury, but it doesn’t explain why you stink of wolfsbane along with a myriad of other herbs.”
“What did you say?” Elijah was gobsmacked.
“Wolfsbane, it’s toxic to shifters so I have no idea why you’re carrying it.”
Cole’s eyes shot to Elijah’s for the first time since he had seen Jess. They shared a wordless conversation before Elijah opened the backpack to show Jess the contents of the cage. Her forehead furrowed as Elijah placed it on the examination table. She moved across the room to a cupboard and pulled out three surgical masks, placing one over her own mouth and nose before handing one to Elijah and placing the last one on Cole herself. As she stood in front of him and tied the strings around his head and neck he lifted his good arm and pulled her down into his lap.
“Mine,” he growled again.
“Yes you said that already,” Jess chuckled. “Tell me, do you have any other words in your vocabulary or is this going to be purely a physical relationship.”
She smirked at Cole who was flabbergasted at her response. He was an alpha, shouldn’t she be intimidated or at least overjoyed at finding her mate? His wolf however was happy with the thought of a physical relation
ship with her.
Definitely like her Elijah’s wolf was howling with laughter at seeing his new friend so turned around.
Satisfied that they were all protected from the contents of the cage as much as possible Jess unlocked it and removed the sack contained inside. She carefully opened it and emptied the contents into a kidney dish. She systematically sifted through all the contents, making notes as she went and taking pictures with her camera phone for reference. Once she was finished she placed all of the components in a clinical waste back and zip locked it closed.
“You can take your masks off now,” she instructed as she left the room to dispose of the clinical waste. Cole jumped up from his seat the second she was out of his sight as he made to follow her. Jess had returned before he made it to the door, seeing him out of his seat made her role her eyes, “Seriously Cole,” she chastised him.
Elijah had been inspecting her notes, “What does all this mean?”
“I’m not completely sure yet, there were a lot of components involved and it’s not a combination I’ve ever seen or read about before. Each herb has its own properties but it’s the way they’re combined that decides the overall result. Think of it like ingredients for a recipe. Different chefs can use the same ingredients but in different ways to produce different meals.”
“How do you know all this?” Cole asked.
He speaks her wolf rejoiced.
“I learned a lot about plants when I was at university, how they nourish but also how they can be toxic. My pack helped me build on my knowledge so I could help our members.”
“Does that mean you can treat humans?” Elijah asked hopefully.
“Of course,” Jess scoffed, “Real doctors treat more than one species.” She winked at Cole before opening the door to the radiology suite, “Stay boy.”
The sounds of machines whirring resonated from behind the door as Jess proceeded to set up for an x-ray. Cole did as he was instructed although he definitely didn’t like it. He wasn’t sure what was worse, being ordered around again even though he was now free or having Jess out of his sight. Thankfully it wasn’t long before she returned.
“Right, we need to get a couple of shots of your shoulder so I can figure out exactly where the bullet is lodged before we remove it.” She helped Cole to lie flat on the x-ray table and positioned him where she wanted. Pointing a finger at his face she said, “Stay,” before playfully kissing him on the tip of his nose.
Cole was so shocked by her actions that he didn’t even register that she had left the room until he heard the beep of the machine signalling the x-ray had been taken. Jess stepped back into the room removing the plate from underneath the Bucky table a mischievous glint in her eye. She inserted the plate into the x-ray reader and the machine began to whirr again as it processed the image.
Apparently happy with the first image Jess removed the plate and returned it to the table.
“One down one to go,” she smiled gently. The change in her countenance gave Cole concern. He had a suspicious feeling he wasn’t going to like what came next. “I’m going to need you to lie on your side with your injured shoulder on the table.”
Jess grimaced as she helped Cole to get into the correct position. She knew he was trying to hide his pain from her and her wolf whimpered in the knowledge that he was suffering.
Not long, we will fix him she soothed her.
Trying to make light of the situation Jess teased Cole again, “Stay!”
When she went to kiss him on the nose again he anticipated her move bringing his hand to grasp the back of her head, pulling her down so her lips met his own. He kissed her passionately making her gasp at his brazen attitude. As his tongue slipped into her mouth to tease her own she moaned in pleasure. Her tongue darted out to meet his as they twined together in a dance for dominance. Cole shifted on the table in an attempt to get closer to her, causing him to wince in pain.
Horrified, Jess pulled back out of his grasp scolding herself for her unprofessional attitude. “When I said stay I meant it,” she reprimanded Cole before re-positioning him. “Now stay! I mean it.”
No kiss this time as she stepped out of the room to take the x-ray. Cole chuckled to himself. His mate was definitely going to challenge him and keep him on his toes. After nearly two decades in captivity he was eager to get started on the rest of his life with her. The machine beeped and Jess returned to process the x-ray.
“You can get up now,” she informed Cole, her professional veterinarian demeanour fully back in place after their kiss only a minute earlier. Jess examined the images closely before calling Elijah into the room. “Okay, so this is the bullet,” she pointed at the cylindrical metallic structure present on the x-rays. “Good news is it’s in one piece and there are no broken bones.”
“And the bad news?”
“It’s lodged right up by the joint, near the greater tuberosity, meaning it’s deep and I’m sorry but it’s gonna hurt.”
“But you can do it?” Elijah asked, hope evident in his voice.
“Sure, once it’s out and your wolf healing kicks in then you should be fine. Normally there’s risk of bleeding, infection etc but that’s one of the benefits of being a shifter over a normal dog.” She turned her attention to Cole, cupping the side of his face with her hand, “You ready to do this?”
Cole gazed lovingly into her eyes, his wolf full of confidence in their new mate. Fate had crossed their paths right when he needed her most and he felt extremely blessed to be given someone who was clearly caring, intelligent and funny as well as beautiful.
He nodded his head in response, knowing she didn't just mean was he ready for surgery. Yes he was ready for her, she was a dream he never thought he'd live to see.
Chapter 31:
Jess cleaned up Cole’s shoulder and gave him an injection of local anaesthetic to help numb the area. “This will help with some of the pain,” she explained, “But it’s not going to stop it completely I’m afraid.”
She positioned Cole on the surgical table and instructed Elijah on how best to restrain him when the time was needed. She continued to prep his shoulder in an aseptic manner, automatically like she did for any other surgery. Then she moved to the sink to wash her hands ready for the procedure. She loaded the surgical soap onto the scrub brush and rhythmically moved it back and forwards across her hands. Both Cole and Elijah watched her, fascinated by the process as her dextrous fingers moved without thought.
When she was ready she dried her hands before donning her gown and gloves. After opening her surgical kit she placed the drape across Cole’s wounded shoulder before manoeuvring the light so she could see as clearly as possible. Feeling that she had everything ready she ran through a mental checklist.
“Ok, how’s the shoulder feeling after the local anaesthetic?”
“Actually much better,” Cole informed her.
Jess nodded in response, “Ok here we go then.”
Gripping the tissue forceps in one hand she spread the bullet wound with the other before inserting the forceps inside. Relaxing her grip, the tissue forceps opened spreading the wound internally giving her better visualisation of the deeper part of the wound. Cole shifted slightly due to the sensation of pressure from his injured muscles being stretched aside but he couldn’t technically feel anything so far. Jess used a syringe loaded with saline to flush the wound removing blood clots and other debris to help her see what was going on. The creamy colour of bone could be seen at the end of her forceps telling her she was at the head of the humerus but she couldn’t see any sign of the silver bullet.
“Ok Elijah I need you to slowly rotate his shoulder like I showed you,” Jess instructed.
Elijah placed one hand on Cole’s good shoulder and the other just above the elbow of his injured arm. He then slowly lifted the arm up a centimetre at a time. Cole winced at the movement, grinding his teeth in pain as he tried not to fight Elijah. The local anaesthetic worked well for the skin and muscle but didn’t get down
into the joint. Jess watched closely, waiting for a glimpse of metal but saw nothing yet. Frowning she told Elijah, “That’s far enough. Now rotate it outwards slowly.”
Elijah followed her instructions although he could feel Cole tensing beneath his hands.
There it is she smiled to herself as she saw a flash of silver come into view.
“Okay stop there.” Elijah braced Cole’s arm as he fought the urge to cry out. Now that Jess has found the right place it was clear how much the silver bullet was hurting Cole. “Nothing like putting yourself in the hands of a perfect stranger huh,” Jess joked trying to get Cole to relax.
“He’s lucky to have you Doc,” Elijah responded.
Cole was unable to talk his teeth gritted in pain as Jess manoeuvred her forceps inside his shoulder. Unable to get Cole to relax Jess focused on the task at hand to try and complete it as quickly as possible to end his suffering.
“Just a little longer, I’ve almost got it,” Jess murmured out loud as much as to herself. She had finally managed to twist the bullet out from between the bones. As she went to remove the bullet from the wound completely Cole finally screamed out in pain, jerking his shoulder. “Elijah you need to hold him still, I’m almost there.”
“I’m sorry Doc I’m holding him as tight as possible but he’s strong. He turned twenty-one today and his alpha blood is at maximum strength.”
Jess sighed, “Cole we’re going to have to give you some gas for this last bit. I know it’s going to be horrible but you cannot move.”
She placed her instruments down on the sterile tray and reached for a mask to attach to the anaesthetic circuit. She turned on the oxygen and the anaesthetic gas before applying the mask over Cole’s nose and mouth. On reflex Cole fought against the smell of the gas, his wolf instincts telling him he was in danger. Jess held his head tightly to keep the mask in place her turquoise eyes locked on his as she cooed softly, “It’s going to be okay, you’ll be awake in moments I promise.”
